Dazzled by Silver (22 page)

“I don’t want you to leave tomorrow,” I said in the evening, pausing my reading. While he’d worked, I’d read in bed.

“I have to, Sam. You shouldn’t worry.”

“I don’t want to lose you.” I put my Kindle aside, on a fluffed pillow.

“You won’t. I’m good at my job.”

“I don’t doubt that, Gabe. But this is personal.”

“It is. I will never let them hurt someone I love again.”

My breath stilled, and my mouth opened.

After a few seconds Gabe stopped his typing and lifted his head away from the screen.

“What did you say?” I asked in a whisper with my hand near my lips.

He swivelled on his chair with a dumbfounded look on his face. “I won’t let them hurt someone I love.”

“You love me?” I couldn’t believe what I’d heard, yet my heart skipped with joy.

“I...I do.”

“What about the no strings attached, Gabe? We haven’t even been on a date. I thought you wanted a fling, like I do.” My voice trembled as Gabe crossed toward me.

“If you’ll have me, I want all strings, ropes, chains, and handcuffs if that’s what will keep you at my side.”

“Handcuffs?” My brow rose.

“Anything and everything.” He smirked. “You have a way of erasing pain and loss from my mind. I want to live again when I’m with you.” Gabe took me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. He held his lips there for a long time. “I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but I’ve fallen for you. You make me want to be a better man.”

I took a deep breath in. What he’d said sounded so good and perfect. I was afraid I’d wake up. A life without Gabe was not worth living. Was that what true love felt like? Like you’d die for the other person? Jump into fire or shark infested waters after them? After Kevin, vowing to never love again I kept my emotions under lock. But now I realized Gabe had broken through and stole my heart.

“I love you too, Gabriel.”

He touched my lips with his and lowered me onto the bed. “I will never let anyone hurt you.” His eyes glowed with a new shine I hadn’t seen before. It was the perfect blend of love, lust, and infinite desire.

When we made love that night, I tried to remember each touch, the sound of his every breath, and the rhythm of his pulsing heart. I wanted to remember our first time making love and being aware of what it meant, like it was our last time. And I’m glad I did. It gave me something to hold onto when the Grimm Reaper came knocking on my door.

C
HAPTER
20

My head pounded. The smell of spoiled eggs and dirty socks filled my lungs.
Chloroform.

The beating in my chest sped up, and I opened my eyes to pure blackness. Squeezing them shut, I searched my memory. I’d had a hard time falling asleep. Gabe loved me. My elation kept my adrenaline at a high of its own. We’d made love four times before we were sated. Gabe fell asleep, and I went into the bathroom. I put on my sweats to go downstairs to get some water.

Before I left, someone entered our bedroom and whacked Gabe over his head.

Gabe!
I remembered screaming, but the sound was muffled by a noxious cloth over my mouth. A vase had been knocked off a table. Cool wind blew through a broken window. Then everything had faded into darkness.

Now, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes again. I waved my hand in front of my face but couldn’t see it.

“Gabe?” I whispered, putting my hands out to my sides. The surface underneath my palms felt rough. I drew my arm further out but hit a wall.

My breathing became shallow. “No, this can’t be happening.” My other hand hit a wall on the opposite side. Trying to control the fear that crept up my body, I followed the line of the wall until I reached a corner. My palms flew to the ceiling over my head and pressed against the hard surface.

The smell of earth and soil became more real each minute. Another memory flashed in my mind. A familiar voice had laughed when I woke for the first time, my hands tied behind my back, my legs bound with rope. Its knot burned against my ankles, and I thought about Kendra’s anklet, wishing I could have one so Gabe could track me. I’d gripped my left wrist, but my charm bracelet was gone. The bastard must have stolen it.

My memory flashed back to Martinez’s raspy voice. “History repeats itself, Ms. Connor,” he’d said with amusement. The stench of a homemade cigar burned my nose.

I hadn’t been able to see where we had gone, but the frequent bumps in the road and crunching under the car’s wheels told me it was remote. I’d passed out.

“Help!” I screamed now. “Help me!” I slid lower, but my feet touched the end of the enclosure. I hit my knees on the low ceiling trying to push myself back up. I reached behind my head, fearing what I already knew, and touched another wall.

“Gabe! Help me, please.” I released a long wail and let the river of tears flow.

I wondered how long I had before I’d suffocate in this box, buried under ground.

* * *

“Gabe! Gabe, wake up!”

Kendra’s panicked voice vibrated Gabe’s eardrums. Her fingers clenched his arm until he opened his eyes.

Morning light filtered through the window, blinding him. Sun sparkled in the broken glass scattered across the wooden floor of his bedroom. Gabe shot off his bed like a spring.

“Sam?” He ran across the floor and glass cut into his feet.

“She’s gone!” Kendra cried. “I already called Tristan. What happened here?”

“Samantha!”

“She’s not here, Gabe.” Kendra ran to his side and touched the back of his head. “You’re hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.” He raised his hand to where Kendra had touched it. A bruise had formed, and he could feel a wet sticky gash under his fingers. He turned to Kendra. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I didn’t hear or see anything. I went for a swim after Tristan dropped me off this morning. There’s blood in the kitchen,” She skidded to the bathroom and ran cold water over a towel then handed it to Gabe.

He pressed the cloth to where he’d felt the cut. “Blood?”

“Not too much, Gabe. Your windows are broken. I saw from the back yard and run up here.”

“I don’t care about the windows. Where is Samantha?”

Kendra took him by the shoulders. “Someone took her, she’s gone!”

Gabe’s chest emptied as if all the air had been knocked out of his lungs. His heart froze as Kendra’s words sunk in. A gut feeling in the pit of his stomach warned him of a dire situation. The same feeling he’d had when Jo had been taken.

“How the fuck did they get through security?” Gabe scanned the room as he let his instincts take over.

“I don’t know, but the time on some of the appliances is flashing.”

“They took out power. And the generators. What time is it?”

“Eight.”

“Tristan?”

“He’ll be here in five minutes.” She shook her head.

Gabe dropped the blood-smeared towel to the floor and rushed to the side of his bed, fumbling in the drawer.

“What are you doing?” Kendra asked.

“I can track Sam.” He reached for his cell phone and hope cracked the ice around his heart. He punched in a few numbers. “She’s here! Samantha!” He ran towards the bedroom door, leaving a trail of blood leaking from the cuts on the soles of his feet.

Kendra followed him as he ran downstairs. “Gabe, that’s impossible, I checked the whole house.”

“No, she has to be. Her charms have a tracking device.” Gabe froze again. Out in the backyard, beyond the glass door, something sparkled in the sun. He looked at the app on his cell phone pointing in the same direction. The sinking feeling in his stomach returned, acids churning as he hurried outside.

On the patio table lay Samantha’s bracelet, holding down a note.

He couldn’t move. Gabe’s only hope of finding Samantha vanished.

“What is it?” Kendra asked, stepping out onto the patio.

Gabe stared at the note, unable to force his feet forward.

Kendra ran to the table and picked it up. “History repeats itself,” she read. “What does that mean?”

Bitterness filled his throat. Before he threw up, he said, “They’re going to bury her alive, the way they did Joanne.”

* * *

Shallow breaths fed my lungs with trickles of air. I could no longer cry, and my eyes stung. Blood oozed down my legs from hitting the wood with my knees. Banging on the low ceiling over and over again was a survival instinct and I couldn’t stop it until my legs had no more strength. My palms ached, and my fingertips throbbed. They had been filled with slivers when I slid them across the wood, searching for a hinge or any kind of opening. I had cut my palm on a protruding nail. The laceration burned.

I gripped my bare wrist where my charm bracelet was supposed to be. My hand had made the same motion every few minutes, looking for hope I knew wasn’t there. All the strength had left my body. The pounding of my heart slowed to quiet thumps. The smell of death surrounded me.

I began saying Hail Marys.

* * *

“Gabe, how long has it been?” Tristan stepped out of his Bentley, dressed in jeans and a white shirt.

Kendra stood quietly in the corner, aware of every move Tristan made. Feelings from a past long forgotten rushed through her body. Her ex-boyfriend still had the same effect on her as he’d had when they were dating and, for a moment, she regretted her decision to leave him. At a time when she needed commitment, Tristan couldn’t offer it. Now she knew he wouldn’t be able to for a long time. She scarred his heart layers deep, inside and out.

“I don’t know. We went to bed after two,” Gabe said.

“Did you track her? Hello, Kendra.”

“Tristan.” When her heart settled down, she managed to step closer and give him a quick peck on the cheek. Her limbs shook. Kendra wanted to scold Tristan once again for involving Gabe in her affairs, but it wasn’t the right time, and it wasn’t Gabe’s fault Sam had been kidnapped. That honor belonged to her.

“The bastard took off her charm bracelet.”

“Shit!”

A phone rang in Gabe’s pocket. He looked at the display then back at Tristan and clicked the speaker on.

A raspy voice sounded. “It looks like someone hasn’t learned her lesson.”

Kendra felt her knees shake. Tristan stepped in to support her weight.

“Where is Samantha?” Gabe said.

“Closer to hell than you think.” Martinez laughed. “Tell your little druggie it was supposed to be her, but she wasn’t home. She’s next.”

Tristan ripped the phone out of Gabe’s hand.

“Listen to me, fucker! Tell us where she is, and we’ll settle the payment.”

“It’s too late for your little bitch.”

“I swear, I will find you and rip your throat out,” Gabe threatened.

“That won’t settle the payment either. You know I’m just a messenger.”

“Then take this message. We’re coming after you, your boss, and your boss’s boss.

A click, followed by deadly silence.

“Shit!” Gabe looked at Tristan.

“I’m so sorry, Gabe. It should have been me.” Kendra couldn’t contain her tears. It was her fault this had happened. Why did she have to be so messed up? Why couldn’t she have listened to Gabe and to Tristan when they tried to help her? “I’m so sorry.”

“Just let me think!” Gabe screamed. “There has to be a way!”

“Let me see that.” Tristan pointed to the tracking app.

Gabe handed the device to Tristan. “It’s no use. The bracelet is here.” Gabe picked up the chain, grasping it tightly in his hand. He knew Samantha wouldn’t have taken it off by herself. The bastard was smarter than Gabe gave him credit for.

Narrowing his brows, punching something into his cell phone, Tristan didn’t pay attention to Gabe. His mouth curved up. “Where’s Joanne’s boat wheel charm?” he asked.

“Upstairs, why?”

“Because you had it fitted with a tracking device, but you never gave it to her.”

“What does that have to do with Sam?”

“The beacon is on, and the charm is not upstairs.”

* * *

How long has it been?
I wondered. Was I still alive? I thought so, but I also knew I had only minutes left. There was barely any air. The heat of my breath in the box forced beads of sweat down my face.

My ears buzzed with sounds from the outside. They must not have not buried me deep but still deep enough to kill me. I moved my aching leg a little. New banging vibrated the crate I lay in. They had probably hidden me at a construction site.

What a cruel way to die. At a time when I’d found my way in life, understood what I needed and wanted, I would die. I had finally found love, only to lose it. And Gabe would suffer once more. What if they’d taken him too? Was he still alive?

The hammering from above became louder each time I thought about the outside. Were they piling more soil on top of me? My lungs burned, deprived of oxygen. I knew I only had a couple more breaths left in me. I took a shallow gulp of air, almost a wheeze. I opened my eyes once more, took a last inhale and saw the first spark of bright light welcoming me to heaven.

***

“She’s not far.” Gabe had insisted on driving.

“Just get there alive, Gabe.” Tristan had every faith in his cousin, but even he didn’t dare to go faster than the odometer would show. Perhaps he hadn’t been pushed as far as Gabe. Grateful for one of the few straight dirt roads on the island, Tristan kept watch on the blinking dot on Gabe’s cell phone.

“Trust me.” Gabe clenched the steering wheel.

“Here.” Tristan pointed to the side road.

Gabe pressed on the brakes. They locked on the tires like Crazy Glue to skin. The smell of heated iron and rising dust surrounded them.

“We have to go on foot from here.” Tristan scanned the rocky plains to the right.

“Like hell we do.” Gabe pressed the gas again and veered to the right. “I can’t lose her.”

The car’s bottom scraped against the rocks.

“We should have taken your Hummer, Gabe.”

“Not as fast. She doesn’t have time. I’ll get you a new Bentley for your wedding.” Gabe laughed, but his nerves shook his voice.